Daylight Dressed as Darkest Night
by Sifu Soul
Summary: On a warm summer night, Aang listens to Aunt Wu's advice and follows his heart. Kataang. Zutara. Now rated Teen.


**Summary:** On a warm summer night, Aang listens to Aunt Wu's advice and follows his heart.

**Length:** One-shot

**Ships: **Kataang and Zutara

**A/N and Disclaimer:**Avatar: the Last Airbender doesn't belong to me…though I wish I thought of it. I'd finally have some money…then again, I'd prolly be bum-rushed by the ZFM (Zuko Fan Mob), and nobody wants that.

For real though? Pre/teens don't fall in love. So guess what? (magic author dust) Everybody's 4 years older. Bwa-ha. Cept Iroh. He might not handle it. And Bumi. He's friggin ancient…

When I started this, I'd only seen to the latter end of Season 2, so _**the upcoming finale and anything following that will not be considered.**  
_  
Enjoy

LHS

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I  
_  
You're the daylight, dressed as darkest night._

_The very vision…the Mirage Man  
You're air in the palm of my hand  
You're like catching the day's sunset  
Or rain that's never wet._

_You're a Butterfly…in the mind  
You're a Butterfly…before my eyes  
You're a Butterfly…who says you're mine  
But leaves…before you arrive._

Seatbelts. Butterfly.

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I

Daylight, Dressed as Darkest Night

I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I

She's the daylight dressed as darkest night.

Odd?

Yeah. It is.

I was proud of myself for having the thought. Sounds deep ya know?

But she is.

I'm watching her float in the water. She's been slipping off in the middle of the night for a while now. I'm not sure when it started, but I remember having _another _nightmare about something terrible happening to Katara, waking up and seeing she wasn't there. I'd panicked, so worried about her that I didn't even think to wake Toph, Sokka, Iroh, or Zuko, and ran around like a Ostrich Horse with its head cut off looking for her, and by luck, stumbled upon her at a nearby lake, just dancing with the water.

It was an amazing sight, but soon, I started feeling guilty that I'd been watching her when she obviously wanted to be alone, so I left, but the images of her molding the water stayed with me, and I slept really well the few days afterward.

Still, even now, she's only floating. Her normally well kept hair is webbing out from her head in every which direction, her arms sprawled out to the side, legs extended beneath her…

Floating…Smiling…Existing…

I sigh with a smile. If I hadn't done so about 50 times before, I'd have fallen in love with her all over again.

Suddenly, a self made geyser propels her in the air. She yells in laughter and rotates her arms, spinning her body, the water creating a small typhoon that catches her body and lowers her, spinning, gently, back down to the surface of the water.

I laugh along with her from afar…but then it hits me again…

She has a slight flush to her cheeks as she stands in the water, slightly panting from her exertion. Her joy and zest for life, even in the middle of this terrible war, is obvious.

Her smile. Her laughter. Her beauty

Her hair whips around her, earth brown locks spreading behind her back like angels' wings when she steps out of the water. She may be a water elemental, but great spirits, she's so much more like the sunshine. She brightens my day. The mere idea of her being hurt or in danger has sent me into the Avatar state…how many times? And how many times was it her that was the only force that could calm me down?

It was her that made me stop going into the state so often…the fact that seeing me like that caused her pain was enough to make me want to never enter the Avatar state again.

It's kind of funny…the Avatar state, possibly the strongest naturally occurring force in the world…the most powerful being in the four nations... conquered by an 18 year old woman.

A dazzling, sweet, caring, able, strong-willed, _beautiful_ woman, but a woman nonetheless.

But she's so…cool. Her aura is one of responsibility and trust…with a hint of grace encapsulated in a body of a fierce, agile warrior, almost never scared and loyal to a fault. She's calm, collected. Beneath all of that kindness and caring is an unshakable young woman, who bends the blue water and ice into a deadly force of nature that even I can't quite match.

I smile.

I faintly hear giggles as she wraps her element around her, basking in the way that the liquid blue ribbons caress her bare skin and white under things. The water and her skin both glisten in the moonlight, an incredible phenomenon… completely diminished by the beauty of a smile framed by wet, brown hair

She's pure sunshine…the Daylight… dressed as darkest night…

See it now?

No? Whatever…

I do. And it's beautiful.

_"Katara…"_

Great spirits…the sound of her name sends shivers through my body, even if it's from my own lips. I see from high atop a tree how the water slides from her body in an airborne stream away from her, painting the sky with shapes, patterns, figure eights…playing with what many call the world's blood.

Am I spying? Maybe even stalking some? Yeah. I'm the Avatar. Stop me.

I _tried_ staying away, I honestly did, but I'd wake up, notice her empty sleeping bag, and be tantalized by the same vision that helped rock me to sleep… that pure joy and laughter…and I wasn't strong enough to not watch her.

Besides…I'm not hurting anyone other than myself.

It's deep into the hours of the night. Sokka's dead to the world, as he is every night, damn near as soon as his head hits the pillow. Iroh has always been a heavy sleeper…but Zuko? He has his own nightmares. I wouldn't be surprised if he was still tossing and turning. Toph is asleep too, probably closer to Sokka than she needs to be. I'm not brave or sure enough to call her out on it, but I think something's there. She's a bit less obvious than me, I believe, but that doesn't mean much. It seems that Katara herself was the only one who never picked up on my affections.

…Not that it would matter.

I can hear Appa's snoring from here, Momo's probably passed out on his head. I'm glad to see that they've become friends.

I look to the infinity of the stars around me, streaks that zoom across the sky before disappearing to the horizon as soon as they arrive…seeing some of my past lives in the constellations…

Yeah, Appa will need someone when I'm gone.

I don't want to die, don't get me wrong. I love life. As many rotting custard cakes it has put on my plate, I do love every aspect of it. But I can't help but think that the time of the Avatar is drawing to a close. I'm the last of the Airbenders…after me, there will be no one else. The world will forever remain out of balance. I have already failed as Avatar.

The next wouldn't even be able to learn Airbending.

Will the planet survive? Most likely. I believe the only reason the fates allowed my two best friends to wake me it to stop the threat of Ozai. After that, there should be peace. Without the Airbenders, the world will be forever changed…but it will survive.

Without the Airbenders…without me.

…I've grown strangely comfortable with the fact…as I have with many depressing lines of thought recently.

The young man approaches the lake…my shoulders hitch and I chuckle darkly…ironically.

The spirits must be reading my thoughts…son of the devil himself…

A blaze of fire sails through the air, evaporating Katara's water trail instantaneously.

She smiles in spite of it.

He murmurs softly. I can't make out the words. I could direct the wind so that I could hear their whispers better…but I'm invading their privacy as it is.

She giggles and sends a violent stream of water his way, only to be blocked by another roaring ball of fire.

They pass opposing elements back and forth in their dangerous game, Katara and Zuko have always played games with each other. Neither of them are willing to give into the other, Katara stays stubbornly defiant to the spoiled prince, Zuko remains impassively uncaring towards the young peasant girl.

Water splashes, the delicate pitter pat of droplets falling to the ground echoes in the night sky in contrast to the forceful roar of the fire as it sears the very air before dissipating into nothingness.

It's a deadly dance. Blades of ice come within inches of stabbing the young prince… Licks of fire slide by Katara's body with hardly any room to spare. They hardly hold anything back. The dance is violent, dangerous, and I can't help but worry about both of them, praying that neither of them slip up.

But them? They smile, all grins and not a small amount of laughter.

Katara sends a tendril of water that wraps around Zuko's foot, catching him off guard and slinging him nearly 20 feet into the air before he splashes head first in the water.

I smirk as her taunting laughter resounds through the air.

Game, set, and match Zuzu...

Her laughter dies off as she waits for Zuko to resurface…

"Z-Zuko?" she asks to the open air, a touch of concern in her voice.

She wades deeper into the water.

"Zuko!?" she yells, looking around with more than a bit or worry.

The tables suddenly turn as he resurfaces immediately underneath her, sweeping her legs out from under her and dunking her ungracefully into the water.

They abandon their powers, now simply wrestling with each other in the water, another epic battle that will end up giving the other bragging rights the next day, which would be lorded over the other in the form of subtle nudges, loaded looks, and cheeky grins.

A chill of another kind runs down my spine and up my arms, a biting cold that touches my very heart in the warm summer night.

I love her. I swear upon the moon, the earth, the sky, the cosmos, and the spirit world beyond, I love her with every fiber of my being and every ethereal wisp of energy in my chi. I'd no sooner destroy this very planet than save it if it would only bring the ghost of a smile to her face.

I've followed Aunt Wu's advice as much as I can, I've followed my heart every step of this long and painful journey…  
_  
"Follow your heart, young Avatar, and you will be with the one you love."_

But I watch as Katara claims victory in their match in the water, Zuko should have never challenged a bender as skilled as Katara in her own element. My throat tightens as she straddles him in the shallow banks her lips exploring his…The only semblance of struggle left being the one that holds them back from becoming too passionate, even as Zuko's soaked robe falls from his body and the wraps begin to come undone on Katara's white top.

My heart has led me here.

But all the same…that's ok. For I'm not sure how much longer I have for this world in the first place

Then again, maybe I'm only fooling myself… maybe my thoughts are just a way to rationalize with myself that my heart's desire will always look at someone else the way I'd hoped and prayed these many moons she'd look at me… That she'll share her life with someone else, and bear another person's children…

But even through my eyes blurred with tears, I can see how happy she is…and will be with Zuko.

And so I'll follow my heart again…and let her be happy.

In a way…Aunt Wu was right. I'll always be with Katara. In the morning, she'll smile and help us fix breakfast. She'll hug me and we'll talk for forever, like best friends do.

And I'll smile, and laugh…and pretend that my love for her wouldn't dwarf the sun itself…that every time I crush a fire nation soldier or when I defeat Ozai…that it will be so she won't have to live in a world with war anymore.

I stand in the tree, holding on to the branch above me. I bend the stream of salty water that has run down my face and flick it away from me.

As long as she is happy…then any pain I feel is irrelevant.

I promised myself I'd do anything to make her happy.

I'm the Avatar. I keep my promises.

I slip down the tree silently, weaving a delicate balance between the air currents lowering me to the ground and preventing the rustling leaves from giving away my position.

I spare a last parting look to the couple enveloped in the water before I walk back to the camp.

_For the rest of eternity, Katara…stay shining bright_

_…My Daylight…Dressed as darkest night…_

_fin_


End file.
